Required daily work?

[CincyFam]

Hello. Our oldest son is in his 2nd year of Montessori, and is 5 years old. As part of the "kindergarten" class, he has a list of 4 daily "accomplishments" which, obviously, must be completed daily. These must be completed before he is allowed "free choice" of activities.

Observation by both parents has revealed a lack of interest in one particular work, namely Moveable Alphabet. In this case, the children are required to spell the words, then write them, then put the work away.

DS is distracted repeatedly during this work, and finds way to avoid its completion, so much so that he is often unable to participate in things like Gym time and choosing his own work.

This work is a daily part of his routine. It is frustrating to the two of us, because it is a daily struggle for him.

Is this a reasonable requirement? We have discussed this issue with teaching staff, and they have "tried" other techniques to work with him, the latest being to segregate him so as to minimize distractions. This is very, very troublesome to me, as it appears like a technique all too familiar to conventional methods, and an "out of sight, out of mind" response to a fundamental issue of curriculum.

We have a conference scheduled for Monday, and I'm afraid it may be fairly contentious. Any info/advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[lach]

Is this a public school or a private school? If it's a public school, they're still required to have their students pass the state tests and meet certain competencies, which probably require that the children be literate by the end of kindergarten. So while I don't believe in pressured academics, I can see how this is probably the best compromise the school can come up with to ensure that the kids do the things that the school really does need them to do, while still maintaining a Montessori environment.

If it's a private school, and there are no greater mandates that need to be met, I guess I would be a little disappointed that the school is pressuring him to do things that he doesn't want to do and that he obviously doesn't feel ready to do. I guess I would talk to the school and ask why it's so important that he does these tasks.

[CincyFam]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I guess I could have been more clear: my son does not have trouble with the concepts involved in moveable alphabet, and is pretty often able to complete it. However, once or twice a week, it's an issue, and it costs him free choice and/or gym. My feeling, and one I shared with his teachers, is that free choice is an unacceptable cost in Montessori, and wonder if I'm missing something?

Your question about public/private is good, along these lines. It's a private school, 30 or so kids, 13 kindergartners. We've engaged the school on "why," in a couple of different ways, and one of the reasons is "to prepare him for first grade."

It just seems to me that movable alphabet should be an aspect, albeit an important one, to teaching the concepts?

This morning, I spoke with a teacher about my concerns, and asked that he'd be relieved from the movable alphabet until at least we (teachers and parents) had the opportunity to discuss it in greater depth. We've been having this discussion for a couple of weeks, in random ways, but they would "try something new" to get him engaged with this specific task. I really don't feel that this specific task warrants the ongoing stress its causing him.

Of course, you learn to concentrate on tasks which may not be to your liking, at the moment, but he's 5? In Montessori? Is there any reason to expect him to complete this task, daily, at the predictable exclusion of all others? What I mean is: is this task, movable alphabet, so important that, knowing he's not interested and will not complete it 1 in 5 days and end up excluded from free choice and gym, it's worth it?

I just think there's got to be a comparable activity, or two, that would be better substitutes. I hope you someone can advise.

Thanks.

[MattBronsil]

Originally Posted by CincyFam

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I guess I could have been more clear: my son does not have trouble with the concepts involved in moveable alphabet, and is pretty often able to complete it. However, once or twice a week, it's an issue, and it costs him free choice and/or gym. My feeling, and one I shared with his teachers, is that free choice is an unacceptable cost in Montessori, and wonder if I'm missing something?

Nope. In fact, I'd even take it a step further. He's not interested in this work because, if what you say is correct, he has already mastered it.

Your question about public/private is good, along these lines. It's a private school, 30 or so kids, 13 kindergartners. We've engaged the school on "why," in a couple of different ways, and one of the reasons is "to prepare him for first grade."

In first grade, is he going to have to do the movable alphabet?
I would use this approach to address the concerns. The reality is people choose Montessori because they want to prepare their children for a lifetime love of learning ~ not to prepare them to do things they don't want to do with life, which seems to be the suggestion here.

As far as the academic aspects go, if he's already able to spell out and read words, he's fine with the standards in first grade, so this has become an unnecessary work. It's actually defeating the goal of what you want from Montessori - which is for the student to love the work and be able to explore the work and materials.

It just seems to me that movable alphabet should be an aspect, albeit an important one, to teaching the concepts?

Right. And what is he learning if he has to do it when he already knows the concepts?

Of course, you learn to concentrate on tasks which may not be to your liking, at the moment, but he's 5? In Montessori? Is there any reason to expect him to complete this task, daily, at the predictable exclusion of all others? What I mean is: is this task, movable alphabet, so important that, knowing he's not interested and will not complete it 1 in 5 days and end up excluded from free choice and gym, it's worth it?

In Montessori, we educate the WHOLE child. This means physically, emotionally, and academically. We don't look at one aspect (gym or choice, for example) as a less important part of the curriculum than reading and math. In fact, the ability to make good choices, develop a love of learning, and to grow healthy are more important to the curriculum since, once those things are developed, the rest comes more naturally.

Angeline Stoll Lillard summed it up well in her book "Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius" She states:
"Dr. Montessori also believed that children who have choices will spontaneously engage with that which they need to further their development." (pg 107)

Some Montessori quotes to consider:
1) "A system of education that is based on liberty ought to aim at assisting a child in obtaining it, and it should have as its specific aim the freeing of the child from those ties which limit its spontaneous manifestations." (Discovery of the Child; pg 54)

2) In regards to missing free choice or gym, which seems more like a punishment system, I point to the same book and chapter. "I then urged the teachers to cease handing out the ordinary prizes and punishments, which were no longer suited to our children, and to confine themselves to directing them gently in their work." Notice the key word..."gently." Other quotes from "The Montessori Method" (Chapter 5) "Discipline must come through liberty."
"We call an individual disciplined when he is master of himself, and can, therefore, regulate his own conduct when it shall be necessary to follow some rule of life." (In other words, we are building discipline not by making them practice arbitrary rules, but by regulating their conduct and developing that ability)
"Since the child now learns to move rather than to sit still, he prepares himself not for the school, but for life."

One more big one from the Montessori Method:
"In our system, (the teacher) must become a passive, much more than an active, influence and her passivity shall be composed of anxious scientific curiosity, and of absolute respect for the phenomenon which she wishes to observe. The teacher must understand and feel her position of observer: the activity must lie in the phenomenon...We cannot know the consequences of suffocating a spontaneous action when the child is just beginning to be active: perhaps we suffocate life itself." (Emphasis in original...and it was a pain in the butt to type all those in. LOL)

I wouldn't, of course, recommend going in there with guns-a-blazin, but explain how you see this is counter to your goals for your child when you signed up for Montessori and what you expected from the school based off what you know. No school is perfect in every aspect and you may have to weigh this against a ton of other good things, but I always liked asking the question, "How is this helping his Montessori experience?" It really brings the focus of the discussion back to Montessori and not on "having to learn to do boring things in 1st grade." If you want him to learn how to do that, there are many cheaper options available that do it more effectively.

[Koloe]

Originally Posted by CincyFam

My feeling, and one I shared with his teachers, is that free choice is an unacceptable cost in Montessori, and wonder if I'm missing something?

My understanding of Montessori is that it's based on Free Choice within a structured environment. Though it seems your school isn't fully into Free Choice by the children either based on the performance requirements you stated.

Originally Posted by CincyFam

I just think there's got to be a comparable activity, or two, that would be better substitutes. I hope you someone can advise.

I would think there are other options that help build reading skills that he could choose from. How is keeping him out of Gym helping him improve his reading? I would think letting him run around and burn up energy would help in concentrate on works later in the day.

[noobmom]

One of the private Montessori schools we toured had "required" work, even for the Primary class. It really made me question the school's interpretation of the Montessori method. Although the school was beautiful and well-equipped, we ended up choosing a different school for a number of reasons, including this one. Was this something that came up at all when you first considered the school?

[CincyFam]

Wow, thank you all for the great advice, and for acknowledging our concerns. We sincerely appreciate both.

Obviously, some aspect of our boy's experience is not working the way it should. We've had many discussions with him regarding the expectation that he complete movable alphabet, and have asked him to complete that requirement first, but it is still (after 3 weeks) a sticking point on a predictable basis, and we're through just trying to help him get along with the requirements of this particular curriculum.

We were not fully aware that daily, required work would be part of the curriculum until this year, as it is only required of the kindergartners. I don't think we would have balked at, either, if it had not been from our observations of the classroom, and his expression of frustration with missing out on free choice.

I don't think that we're going to be able to convince them that the "accomplishments," as they refer to required daily activities, need to be dropped altogether. I guess our hope is that he's engaged in a variety of required activities, not specifically movable alphabet. I don't even necessarily have an issue with assigning specific tasks for children, as long as there is a good reason; i.e. the teacher feels she needs to evaluate a child's ability, or the child avoids a certain group of tasks to the point of ignoring them. I do think that, in this case, there's a problem, but I think that it's less in the "accomplishment" concept than in its application.

Which is why having you folks chime in has been so helpful. Thank you, again.

To qualify his competence: he's not able to spell correctly every word, but then the word choices are his to make and if he decides that "llama" is one of the words he wants to spell, he does his best with sounds in order. I don't think that this particular activity is meant to drill spelling though, is it?

[ADirrim]

I've already written my thoughts about work checklists and required lessons in another thread (under "DD Wants a Contract/More Challenging Work"- I think they are demotivating and adversley affect performance, and I would not use them unless a child's development was extremely uneven or had completely plateaued in some respect), but I wanted to respond to two of your points:

Originally Posted by CincyFam

To qualify his competence: he's not able to spell correctly every word, but then the word choices are his to make and if he decides that "llama" is one of the words he wants to spell, he does his best with sounds in order. I don't think that this particular activity is meant to drill spelling though, is it?

I am not sure what activity your son was engaged in exactly.
The Moveable Alphabet is not a spelling work at all (in fact, most writing done with the Moveable Alphabet is completely phonemic and spelling mistakes are expected and are not usually corrected). The purpose of the Moveable Alphabet in the Montessori curriculum is to teach the child to build words (or encode phonemes into words- to learn that words are composed of sound units). Montessori children usually begin this activity around the age of 3 1/2 when they learn to write words (using the Moveable Alphabet) before they have the motor control to write them by hand (as they develop better motor control, it is commonplace to ask them if they would like to write the word on paper after composing it with the Moveable Alphabet). Children generally progress from writing individual words (three sound, then four sound, then five sound) to writing sentences and entire stories.

Montessori identified that children are able to write (or encode phonemes) before they can read (or decode them); as a result many children can "write" words with the Moveable Alphabet, but cannot read them back (it turns out different parts of the brain actually oversee these capabilities). Usually, there is a lag of about 6 months between writing and reading.

However, the Moveable Alphabet is also used later in other slightly different lessons- writing words containing a particular phonogram (dipthong/diagraph), learning how to place letters on a line correctly, etc. From your post it sounds like he was engaged in some permutation of the basic presentation (although llama is a wierd word to be writing- neither phonetic nor a phonogram).

Originally Posted by CincyFam

In Montessori? Is there any reason to expect him to complete this task, daily, at the predictable exclusion of all others? What I mean is: is this task, movable alphabet, so important that, knowing he's not interested and will not complete it 1 in 5 days and end up excluded from free choice and gym, it's worth it?[/I]
I just think there's got to be a comparable activity, or two, that would be better substitutes.

The Moveable Alphabet is important in the language sequence (one of the "key" materials). As to whether it is important for your son to work with this material, I would want more information about his language development- Is he reading (what level? what type of words- phonetic, phonograms, etc?)? Is he writing (how is his motor control and ability to reporduce letters?)? Does he freely choose to do other language works (which ones?)? How would you describe his motivation overall? If there was/is a comparable extension activity, would/does he freely choose it?

There are many possible reasons why he might be uninterested in the work, and without observing him it is difficult to speculate. Honestly, kindergarten is slightly late for most Montessori children to be working on building basic words with the Moveable Alphabet (so, he certainly might be bored- of course he could also be frusterated), but often children who enter Montessori classrooms later in the cycle (you say this is his second year but he is a kindergartener) are sometimes past the sensitive period where they intensely want to do a certain activity, but they do not have the knowledge required to move on (so it can be much harder to entice them to do activities which support their growth). Generally at a younger age, the material is incredibly exciting to young children, who are overjoyed to be able to write (and that others can read what they've written); once a child begins writign spontaneouly with the Moveable Alphabet their interest in doing other language works really peaks.

I am assuming that your son can correctly associate all (or most all) of his sounds with their written symbols. The fact that the guide wants him to continue working with this material makes me assume that she feels that he is not quite ready to really work on reading/writing works (which is what would normally come next).

It sounds like you need to have a conference with his guide. I would sit down with the guide and ask why she feels that this activity is important for him and where she feels his language development is at (it sounds to me like you are not on the same page about his abilities). If he is capable of reading phonetically and writing (with a pencil) with good motor control, I don't see a reason to really try to entice (or, in their case, force) him to use it. If he is not ready to move on, I would hope that they could find a way to entice him to do the work (this could be an example of a case where enrichment materials and extensions are valuable- so that he is getting the same information without being made to feel like he is doing the same thing over and over again). There really is not another standard material in the Montessori classroom which meets the same objective, but there are a lot of common enrichment/extension materials (Insta Learn Boards, etc) and she might be able to use a different point of interest to motivate him (sometimes I let children make their own handsewn book to write Moveable Alphabet words in, maybe there is something else he is interested in and he could write words pertaining to that- I have had children write grocery lists, snack menus, lists of dinosaurs, types of seeds they want to plant in the garden, etc).

Abigail Miller
www.bloommontessori.com
www.bloommontessori.blogspot.com

[CincyFam]

Wow, thank you for the reply.

It's funny that you mention about making versus reading language, I've noticed
that myself. DS can spell something, dead on, and have trouble later reading it.

As for his motivation, pretty slim, at this point. Over the summer, we went through the starfall stories, and he rocked it, but I think he might have regressed from there.

In terms of making up stories, yes his motivation is there. In terms of making them on a page, with movable alphabet, and then writing them on a page after, his motivation is there, 3 or 4 times a week.

Every child in his age group is required to complete this task daily. This is not just DS, but the entire class.

I am assuming that your son can correctly associate all (or most all) of his sounds with their written symbols. The fact that the guide wants him to continue working with this material makes me assume that she feels that he is not quite ready to really work on reading/writing works (which is what would normally come next).

I'm going to get frank here, as you earlier said

Honestly, kindergarten is slightly late for most Montessori children to be working on building basic words with the Moveable Alphabet (so, he certainly might be bored- of course he could also be frusterated)

Everyone in the age group progresses this way.

I'm saying my son has trouble doing this specific activity daily.

You're telling me:

I am assuming that your son can correctly associate all (or most all) of his sounds with their written symbols. The fact that the guide wants him to continue working with this material makes me assume that she feels that he is not quite ready to really work on reading/writing works (which is what would normally come next).

which indicates to me that you assume a lot.

The kid can read. He can't always spell what he read (llama was my example, and his, as we live next to some and we saw the word come up in observation), and he needs help in some cases, but he is motivated to make language.

[ADirrim]

Originally Posted by CincyFam

Every child in his age group is required to complete this task daily. This is not just DS, but the entire class.

That's really too bad. It also isn't very in line with Montessori's views or the way that most Montessori school's administer their programs (to have blanket requirements based upon age, not interest or readiness). Is this an AMI or an AMS school? Honestly, I'm not even sure how they have enough Moveable Alphabet boxes for this to be possible (to have each child in that age group use it daily for what sounds like a pretty long stretch of time).
You are correct, I assumed that the guide was matching lessons to individual children (and at least creating some type of individualized contract or work checklist) it never even occured to me that a primary Montessori class in a private school would operate in the manner you describe (treating the uninterrupted work time like an extra-curricular reward to be earned after the child fulfilled required "academic" work that was based upon age-related standards). Truthfully, most standards based public preschools have better differentiated instruction.